In a judgment under the repetitive appeals procedure (Theme 1,393), the First Section of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) established that tax enforcement proceedings may be redirected to the estate or successors only when the taxpayer’s death occurs after being properly served in the case.
Under the thesis, if death occurs before service, the same proceeding cannot continue against the estate or the heirs: a new action must be filed after the successors are identified. With the definition, which confirms the court’s precedents, special appeals and appeals against denial of special appeals that had been suspended awaiting the precedent may resume.
Rapporteur Justice Maria Thereza de Assis Moura observed that the topic was already settled in the STJ’s public-law panels, but there was still divergence in lower courts. She explained that identifying the debtor is a requirement of the enforceable instrument and that replacing the tax debt certificate (CDA) is allowed only to correct formal defects (Precedent 392), so the situation could not be fixed by amending the initial petition. The discussion does not address whether successors may answer for the deceased’s debts.
The decision is recorded in REsp 2,237,254.
Informational summary prepared from the source cited. For the full content and any updates, consult the original source. This is not legal advice.
Source: STJ (Superior Tribunal de Justiça) — Notícias
